Graham Cummins: Even hotshot Haaland isn't safe from fans and media scrutiny

AFTER managers, the majority of the time it seems to be the strikers that are questioned when results aren’t going in a team’s favour. 

When sides are performing poorly, it seems to be a case that pundits and/or supporters are queuing up to give their opinion about how the man leading the line for the team is the problem. 

No player is safe from media or fans scrutiny even if you're Erling Haaland, a player that has scored 25 league goals already for Manchester City. Foolish questions have been asked whether Pep Guardiola’s side would be better without the Norwegian in the starting 11.

Criticism has come because of Haaland’s lack of involvement in games, especially his contribution in City’s Manchester derby defeat two weeks ago - a match in which Haaland had only 20 touches. 

However, Haaland was bought because he is different to the type of player City already had in their squad. 

They have plenty of players capable of conducting those neat one/ two touch passes. He could easily drop deep, get the ball and pass it off, but that's not going to hurt the opposition. 

Opponents would be delighted to see Haaland drop-off to the halfway line to get the ball off John Stones to then pass it to someone like Jack Grealish. 

The problem is then the striker has to make a 40-yard run to get back into the box, thus wasting his energy which will affect his finishing ability as he will be tired when he gets an opportunity.

That criticism of Haaland after the Manchester United game was probably beneficial to him. 

At the beginning of the season, it was clear that the City player’s enjoyed the novelty of having Haaland in the team. Knowing that they had a player that wasn’t going to always come short and want the ball to feet. 

They had a player that allowed them to cross the ball into the box first time, and also someone that was willing to run in behind defenders. 

It was a style of play that the City players weren’t used to. However, they did slip back into their old habits of being reluctant to play the ball in behind defences.

That defeat at Old Trafford and the criticism Haaland received, was a reminder to the City players that they are failing their teammate, and it was their problem to fix not Haaland’s. He was still making the same runs, but his teammates weren’t providing the same service. 

Those runs would have stopped because Haaland would have gotten annoyed that he was continuously offering intelligent movement with no reward, and probably would have thought what was the point anymore if he wasn’t getting the ball. 

OLD FASHIONED

However, it does seem that the City players were given a reminder to use Haaland judging by their past two league games against Tottenham and Wolverhampton Wanderers, matches in which the 22-year-old scored four goals.

Haaland is an old-fashioned centre-forward. He is a physical presence, he’s quick and is a striker that wants the ball delivered at the earliest opportunity. Most of his goals come from crosses into the box when Kevin De Bruyne whips the ball in first time. Early crosses into the box allow Haaland to be on the move because he knows the ball is coming in. 

It doesn’t help Haaland that City’s most featured wingers Grealish and Riyad Mahrez play on the opposite wing to their naturally strong foot. Both players are reluctant to cross first time on their weaker foot and are looking to cut back the majority of the time. 

That’s frustrating for Haaland because the longer it is before the ball is played into the box, the more opportunity opposition players have to double up on the striker and try to put him off. 

Now his goal return isn’t too bad despite this, I would just love to see what Haaland would be like if he had someone like David Beckham, who delivered a cross at any opportunity, supplying the ammunition.

Haaland isn’t the problem at City, and anyone that suggests he is might want to upgrade their supposed football knowledge. Supporters and pundits need to stop ‘picking on’ centre-forwards. Strikers are reliant on supply. 

They depend on their teammates otherwise they will perform inadequately. It’s time fans and pundits stop looking at strikers as the problem and start looking at other positions in the team.